The Best WNBA Player ESPY for 2026 comes down to a four-woman field led by reigning WNBA MVP A'ja Wilson, who is chasing a third win in this category after taking it in 2023 and 2024. Napheesa Collier, Allisha Gray and Alyssa Thomas fill out the nominees. Kalshi traders have made Wilson the runaway favorite on the board. The award is decided live at the ESPYS on July 15, 2026, and the live board above tracks the current price on every contender.
The Best WNBA Player ESPY is the WNBA's fan-voted crown at ESPN's annual awards show, and the 2026 edition arrives with A'ja Wilson doing what she has done all decade: sitting on top of the board. Wilson swept the award in 2023 and 2024, then won her fourth league MVP in 2025, and the market treats her as the runaway favorite. Napheesa Collier, Allisha Gray and Alyssa Thomas round out a four-woman field with real signature-season cases of their own.
A'ja Wilson is the reason this market has a heavy favorite. The Las Vegas Aces star won the 2025 WNBA MVP with 51 of 72 first-place votes, becoming the first four-time MVP in league history, and she led the WNBA in scoring at 23.4 points per game for a second straight season while adding 10.2 rebounds and 2.3 blocks a night. She has already taken this ESPY back-to-back in 2023 and 2024, so Kalshi pricing her as the runaway favorite is the market following the resume.
Napheesa Collier is the challenger with the strongest statistical claim. The Minnesota Lynx forward finished second in 2025 MVP voting with 18 first-place votes and posted 22.9 points, 7.3 rebounds and 3.2 assists on 53.1% shooting, becoming the first player in WNBA history to reach the 50/40/90 club while averaging more than 20 points. In most years that is an ESPY-winning line; in 2025 it ran into Wilson.
Alyssa Thomas owns the season's most singular record book. After a February 2025 trade to the Phoenix Mercury, Thomas recorded a WNBA single-season record eight triple-doubles, more than the rest of the league combined, and broke the single-season assists record with 357, passing Caitlin Clark's 337 from 2024. She was a 2025 MVP finalist and an All-WNBA and All-Defensive First Team pick, which gives her the kind of highlight-driven case a fan vote can reward.
Allisha Gray rounds out the field. The Atlanta Dream guard made the 2025 All-WNBA First Team, finished fourth in MVP voting for Atlanta's best result since 2014, and averaged 18.4 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.0 assists while powering the Dream to a franchise-record 30-win season. Gray also earned her first career All-Star starting nod in 2025, her third straight All-Star selection. Wilson has cross-sport company on the Best Women's Athlete ESPY board, where several of these names also surface.
The Best WNBA Player ESPY has been handed out since 1998, when Cynthia Cooper won the first of three straight, and it has since become a fair proxy for who owned the preceding WNBA season. Candace Parker holds the record with four wins. The recent roll call runs like this: Maya Moore took it in 2016, Parker in 2017, Moore again in 2018, and Breanna Stewart in 2019. No award was given in 2020, when the pandemic scrapped the traditional sports categories. Stewart won again in 2021, Parker claimed her fourth in 2022, and A'ja Wilson went back-to-back in 2023 and 2024. Caitlin Clark won the 2025 ESPY on the strength of her rookie year, but Clark is not among the 2026 nominees after an injury-shortened season, which is a big reason the field reset around Wilson.
The 2026 ESPYS air Wednesday, July 15, 2026, on ESPN at 8pm ET from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, and this market resolves that night when the winner is announced on the telecast. The award is decided by online fan voting, and the contract for the winning player pays out while every other nominee settles at zero. Until the envelope is opened, the live board above is the cleanest read on where the vote stands.
The WNBA award is one slice of a full ESPYS board. The team-level race runs through Best Team ESPY 2026 odds, while the individual honors extend across every league. On the men's side, the hardwood equivalent is the Best NBA Player ESPY 2026 market, with the diamond covered by Best MLB Player ESPY 2026 and the ice by Best NHL Player ESPY 2026. For the wider slate, browse the entertainment prediction markets hub or the full sports markets board.
This market resolves to the WNBA player named Best WNBA Player at the 2026 ESPYS, which air on ESPN the night of July 15, 2026 from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. The winner is chosen by online fan voting and announced during the telecast, which is the source of truth for settlement. Each nominee's contract pays $1 per share if that player wins the award and settles at $0 if she does not, and the field includes a separate Tie contract that resolves Yes only if the ESPYS declare co-winners. If the ceremony is postponed past the resolution date, canceled, or the category is not presented, the market resolves per the platform's event-cancellation rules.
Reigning WNBA MVP A'ja Wilson is the runaway favorite, trading at 96c on Kalshi as of July 11, 2026. She has already won this ESPY in 2023 and 2024.
The winner is announced live during the 2026 ESPYS on ESPN the night of July 15, 2026, from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, and the market resolves that night.
The named field is A'ja Wilson, Napheesa Collier, Allisha Gray and Alyssa Thomas, with a separate Tie outcome also listed on the board.
The market trades on Kalshi under the KXESPYS event series, and the live board above tracks the current price on every nominee.
Because the ESPY is decided by online fan voting, watch whether any challenger builds a viral push before voting closes ahead of the July 15, 2026 telecast.